Adolph simon



A. SIMON.

. WATCH AND OTHER BRACELET.

APPLICATION FILEDMAR. 21. 1918.

1,313,644. Patented Aug. 19,1919.

I It has also been proposed to form the slack ADOLPH SIMON, OF LONDON,ENGLAND.

WATCH AN D OTHER BRACELET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

Application filed March 27, 1918. Serial No. 224,993.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADoLPH SIMON, a subject of the King of England,residing in London, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Watch and other Bracelets, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to watch and otherbracelets of the type wherein the slack of the bracelet is wound up on asuitably mounted roller which constitutes a slack-absorber and in somecases is spring-controlled. In some bracelets of this type as heretoforeconstructed, the bracelet-band has been divided and the ends have beenoperatively connected by thin flexible cords or chains to a;

roller, thus interrupting the continuity of the. wrist-encirclingportion of the bracelet. This roller was placed with its axis ofrotation perpendicular to the axis of the wearers wrist, that is, insuch way as to project away from the wrist of the wearer and theflexible end pieces entered the casing at points approximately oppositeeach other.

absorber as a roller inclosed in a casing which constitutes a pendent toa divided bracelet. In this case the ends of the chains, bands or cordsproposed to be used are secured to the slack-a'bsorber at points closeto. each other, one being fastened to the casing and the other passingthrough an orifice in the casing close to this fastening and beingattached to the roller within the absorber would be pendent from thebracelet and could not lie snugly against the wrist.

According to the invention, a slack absorber for an expansible watch orother bracelet has a. frame open on one side to admit a flat flexiblewrist-encircling band (for example of silk ribbon) the other side ,tionshall lie parallel with the face of the said wrist-encircling band whenadmitted by such open side but transverse to the longitudinal directionof the same, the frame being provided with guiding means to guide theband in at the open side and present it to the roller in such mannerthat it can wind evenly thereon in superposed layers, the arrangement ofthe parts being such that the frame is held by the band in fixed lateralrelation thereto and the roller is made to lie snugly against the wristof the wearer, and means for rotating the roller to absorb the slack ofthe wrist-encircling band.

The invention further relates to an expansible watch or other bracelethaving a flat flexible wrist-encircling band provided with aslack-absorber in the manner stated above.

If desired, the roller may be tubular and have a spiral spring situatedwithin it, the said sprlng being connected operatively to it at one endand to a part stationary with the roller-carrier at the other end, sothat when the band is partly run off the roller, the spring is loaded bythe rotation of the roller and thus causes the roller to take up theslack directly the tension on the band is released.

Instead of the sprin within the roller, the roller may be provi ed withone or more barrels secured to the carrier or the roller, eachcontaining a flat spiral spring for returning the roller after it hasbeen rotated in one direction by the drawing off of the band.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one method of carrying outthis invention Figur 1 i a perspective view of a bracelet with theslack-absorber in place;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the slackabsorber on a lar or scale thanFig. 1 and with the braceletand removed;

Fig. 3 shows the roller separated from the rest of the device;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the slack-absorber with the covering-platedetached;

Fig. 5 is a dia am showing the method of winding the. and upon theroller;

Fig. 6 is a plan of a modified form of slack-absorber according to thisinvention;

Fi 7 is a perspective view of the slackabsor ber shown in Fig. 6 withthe parts partially detached; I

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of yet another form of slack-absorberaccording to the present invention.

The same letters indicatethe sameparts throughout the drawings.

The bracelet-band A is preferably of silk ribbon though it may be of anymaterial which allows of sufficient flexibility and can be made in theform of a flat band.

The slack-absorber comprises a roller B which is slotted at B and isreduced at B to enter. bearing-plates C of a carrier. The

one inv each recess. vide barrels for the sprlngs and cover-platesplates are held together by bars C which provide a slot O between themon each side in line with the slot B and each, plate is recessed fromthe outer side as shown at C Fig. 4:,to receive a flat spiral spring D,

' The recesses thus pro- E are secured one over each recess, eachcover-plate convenlently having an orlfice E at the center to receivethe st1ll further reduced end B of the roller 13.

The roller is provided with. hooks 13 on the parts B which engage thecenters of the springs D and the outer ends of the springs are engagedwith the barrel.

To place the band A in position, it is threaded in a straight linethrough the slot the proper position and the roller is released, thelatter immediately releases the central portion of the band on .to itina double thickness, as shown in Fig. '5. It follows therefore that ifthe band is pulled upon on opposite sides of the carrier as whenexpanding it to pass it over the hand,

that portion whichis wound upon the roller is pulled off and the rolleris thereby rotated against the action of its springs, but as soon as theband is again relievedof tension, the springs cause theroller to turnand draw. up the slack, with the result that the bracelet always fitsthe arm of thewearer and yet can beeasily passed over the hand.

An important feature of this invention is the direct engagementiof aflat flexible bracelet-band with' the roller andv the placing of theroller transverse to the longitudinal direction of the band butparallel, to the face of it, so that the band can roll direct on to itwithoutdifliculty and the whole device can lie close to the" arni of thewearer. In another form of slacleabsorber, the

carrier Gr, Fig. 6, is rectangular and curved to the arm, the roller Hbeing mounted to lie across the carrier at a point midway along itslength.- The carrier is provided with jaws G on its under-side toreceive the ends of a fixed pin or spindle H Free to rotate on thisspindle is the roller H which is tubular and has one end permanentlyclosed but receives at the other end a detachable-plug H The plug isgrooved at H so that a flange H is formed whichis slotted at Hcylindrical spring J is mounted. One end of this spring enters a hole inthe fixed spindle H and the other end is hooked'to lie inthe slot H inthe flange H, its free Within the barrel a spiral end lying in thegroove H The parts can be put together as shown in Fig.7. One

'end of thespindle H is fixed in its jaw by apin G which passes throughthe elements of the jaw and the pin, the spring is hooked on to thespindle before'this is introduced into the barrel and then the other endof the spring is hooked onto the plug H The plug has a peripheral pin Hwhich engages a bayonetslot H in the end of the barrel H and thus' bypushing the plug home this pin can be brought around to the end of thebayonet-slot and the plug is thus prevented from endwise displacement;the tension of the spring in use is in such direction as to keep thepinH at the end of the bayon'et-slot'I-I. When the plug is in place, thebarrelcan be swung down so that the free end of the spindle H enters theother jaw G and it can then be pinned in place in the same manner as theend which is shown already secured.

On the underside of the carrier G' are loops G for the band which serveto guide it on to and off the roller, and ther'oller itself has a loop Hon it so that the band canbe passed through this loop to engage it withthe roller. This form of slack-absorber is easy to'manufacture and canbe readilydismantled for inspection or repair and the parts are easilyreassembled. Another form of spring-control for the roller is shown inFig. 8, where the roller K is mounted at the meeting ends of'twosemicirculartubular' guides K K In the guide K two spiral springs K are.mounted. Through each spring 'a thin cord 'K .extends. One end of thecord is attached to the roller and the other end is attached to the farend of the spring. It thus follows that when the roller is rotated inone direction, it. winds the cords K uponit and thus puts the springsK?in compression so that they will return it when it is freed. Similarsprings K could bemountedin the tubular guide "K or only one tubularguide may be employed, but in the drawing ajsingle spiral -spring K f isshown whose ends are connected by cords K to the roller. With this formof device the cords operate to extend the spring K when they are woundup upon the roller and the spring draws them in to return the roller.Obviously two springs could be used intsead of one, each controlling acord secured to the end of it. The attachment of the ribbon or otherband to the roller may be the same as that described with reference tothe roller B shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

For convenience, the band is brought out at each side of the carrierbetween two guide-pins or uide-bars as shown in the drawings, but it isparticularly desirable to have a guide-pin situated on the outer side ofthe outer coil of ribbon where it leaves the roller and one on the innerside of the inner coil where it leaves the roller, as will be readilyseen from an inspection of Fig. 5.

As will be observed, the roller requlres to turn about three times totake up sufiicient slack for practicable purposes and instead ofconnectlng springs such as C Fig. 4, direct to the roller it may bepreferred in some cases to connect them to arbors which are geared tothe roller in such way as to (topics of this patent may be obtained fordecrease the degree of movement necessary for the springs, thus with a2:1 reduction gear from the roller, the arbors of the springs would onlyhave to do 1?} turns instead of 3.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isAn expansible and contractile bracelet for a wrist watch, comprising athin substantially flat wrist-encircling band of flexible material thatwill snugly conform to the wrist of the wearer, with means forconnecting the ends of the same to opposite sides of a watch, a framehaving opposite guides through which the band slidably passes and fromwhich it is freely removable when detached from a watch, a rollerjournaled in the frame between the guides and engaged with the band tocause the latter to wrap thereon, said roller extending parallel to theflat sides of the band and transversely of said band, and spring meansengaged with the roller and the frame to rotate the roller and cause theband to wrap thereon to take u the slack of said band when applied tothe wrist of the wearer.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ADOLPH SIMON.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. 0."

